Shahjahanabad or New Delhi Beyond a Ruined Gateway, Steel Engraving, 1859
€ 220
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1859
Mapmaker / artist
Published by Gebroeders Kraay
Publisher
Gebroeders Kraay, Amsterdam
Technique
Steel Engraving
Coloring
Uncolored
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-00114-6
What the condition grades mean
Excellent
Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good
Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good
Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair
Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
Condition
Light handling wear to the bottom left corner; edges straight and without nicks. Even age toning, lightly soiled along the bottom, right and top edges. No foxing noted in the margins.
About this sheet
An original antique steel engraving, uncolored, lettered "SHAH DSCHIHANABAD OF NIEUW-DELHI." A massive ruined building with tall pointed arches stands on a rise at the right of center, its broken walls crowned with tufts of vegetation and its arcades opening onto the sky. Beyond it the plain stretches toward the distant city, a long skyline of domes, minarets and walls with a fortified building in the middle distance at the left. In the left foreground a group of armed men in turbans and long coats gathers around a seated figure, holding tall spears and carrying round shields, while further figures rest near the ruin. At the lower right a man with a staff sits beside a kneeling, loaded camel.
The plate is lettered below the image in Dutch: "SHAH DSCHIHANABAD OF NIEUW-DELHI.", which translates as "Shahjahanabad, or New Delhi". Beneath the caption, in a small script, is the publisher's imprint "Uitg. Gebrs Kraaÿ, Amsterdam.", short for uitgegeven (published) by the Kraay brothers of Amsterdam. No artist or engraver is named on the plate.
The source is Britsch-Indië, beschreven naar de nieuwste bronnen by A. van Otterloo (Amsterdam, Gebroeders Kraay, 1859), the Eerste Deel of the series Vreemde Landen en Volken, a set of books on foreign countries and their peoples. Its title page promises Met Vier-en-Twintig Staalgravuren en eene Kaart, that is, with twenty-four steel engravings and a map, and this plate is one of those engravings.
Shahjahanabad was the walled city built by the emperor Shah Jahan in the seventeenth century, the city known to nineteenth-century writers as new Delhi. The contrast between the ruin and the far-off city gives the plate a contemplative mood that suits a study or hallway.
This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
